U1

COMMUNICATING

BRUNO MARS: THE EDUCATION SONG

For most students, september is an exciting time - a new teacher, new classmates, new books... For others it is a terrible month - back to school routine, the resumption of homework... However, I have tried the highly dubious task of finding a song to cheer my students up on their first class day. I hope I did! Here it is. The BRUNO MARS EDUCATION SONG. Enjoy!

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER?

Our first class at school also included a quick competition in groups about what you remembered from last year´s grammar and vocabulary.

What was your final score? Did you get 20 points? If not, please consider revising basic concepts from Basic 2!!

What do you remember from the previous course? from Paula Gómez

LEARNING STYLES

While everyone can learn, we all learn in different ways. To help you understand yourself as a foreign language student, I have chosen a couple of tests that you can take to learn about your learning style. They will help you enhance your learning potential. Learn the kind of student you are and share your results with all of us in the comments below!! Good luck!!

RELATIONSHIP VOCABULARY

Click here to revise the family vocabulary we worked with in class. Then, test your knowledge of English words and expressions related to relationships. 

HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS IN A CROWD OF STRANGERS

View How to Make Friends in a Crowd of Strangers on Howcast

As we are learning in class, friends are very important, so learn how to nurture your friendships with the video above. You can also read the script at the same time. Seek out all the difficult new words related to friends and frienship!

Before you join the crowd, find something interesting to comment on. It could be something general, like a recent headline, or something related to the event you're attending.

Notice where people are congregating and join a group. At a pause in the conversation, bring up the comment you thought of earlier. After exchanging a few words, excuse yourself and repeat the process, making the same comment to a few other groups. Make sure to keep track of who you've talked to.

After talking with several different groups, settle in to one conversation. Ask an open-ended question, comment on something in their response, and establish a natural flow of conversation.When you show genuine interest in someone, they perceive you as interesting.   

Use body language to make people feel comfortable. Smile to show interest, keep your shoulders back to give the impression of self-confidence, and use eye contact to build trust.

When people who you spoke with earlier walk by, include them in the conversation by telling them what you're talking about and asking their opinion. The people you talked to in the beginning are more likely to join your conversation because you've already established a rapport with them. Most people don't like talking to complete strangers.

Let the conversation take on a life of its own. Congratulations! You're now the social butterfly you always knew you were.

According to a study, young people who are a little shy are less stressed than their extroverted peers.

If you still think you need help with the expressions learned, try this CONNECT FOURS game we played in class and move onto our next step: grammar!!

MAIN VERBS AND QUESTION FORMS

Verb tenses are tools that English speakers use to express time in their language. You may find that many English tenses do not have direct translations in your language. That is not a problem. By studying this verb tense website, you will learn to think like a native English speaker. So far, you only need to focus on present simple, present continuous, past simple and "going to" future.

MAIN AUXILIARIES IN ENGLISH

1. Can you identify the main auxiliaries in these sentences?

We are learning English

English is spoken all over the world

I don’t like Maths

Do you smoke?

Why didn’t you come to the party?

I haven’t had anything to eat today.

What does your father do?

 2. Draw your attention to had and do in the last two sentences. Are they auxiliary verbs? Why?

   

BE		HAVE		DO
Progressive tenses+ing		Perfect tenses		Simple tenses
Present	Past	Present	Past	Present	Past
Is / are / am	Was / were	Have / has	had	Do / does	did
Passive tenses+past participle

Now that you know everything you need to know about auxiliaries in English, have a look at this website and try the quiz on how to make questions in English at the end of the page. Good luck!!

INTERVIEW WITH KATIE HOLMES

These are some of the questions Katie Holmes was asked at an interview some time ago. Do you think you can put them in the right order? Listen to Katie´s answers and match them to the questions below.

1. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
2. Would you like to do an action film?
3. When did you start acting?
4. How did you feel when you first acted in public?
5. What kind of school did you go to?
6. What was the first movie you saw?

ENGLISH SOUNDS AND PHONEMIC SYMBOLS

I would like to help you hear the sounds of English and connect them to their corresponding character. So, click here to look at a chart and listen to the sound each symbol represents. Once you´ve had enough practise, you can watch the video below. 

PRESENT SIMPLE VS. PRESENT CONTINUOUS

Follow the video and fill in the gaps with the right verb form. You will find the answer straightaway!

In case you need further practice,, click here to practise the difference! ...then try "Lemon tree", a song where you can learn about the present continuous, too!!

UNIT 1_WRITING ASSIGNMENT

Here is the writing task for this unit. Don´t forget to prepare it in advance. You can use the plan and the useful language on this site.

UNIT 1 FINAL REVISION

Complete the unit with this revision quiz.